“There’s no federal law that is going to protect against these companies weaponizing this data.” Prof. Alicia Jessop  We recently reported that the popularity of wearables is eroding confidence in the idea that private, candid conversations will always remain private. Now Charlie McGill and The American Prospect report that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “wants a wearable on every American body.” They described this announcement as “curious” given that five years ago the Secretary himself blasted wearables and other smart devices as being about “surveillance, and harvesting data.” That was then. A massive, government-funded pro-wearables ad campaign will soon promote Secretary Kennedy’s long-held view that eating right and exercising is superior to pharmaceutical remedies. He also wants HHS to popularize wearables: “You know the [sic] Ozempic is costing $1,300 a month, if you can achieve the same thing with an $80 wearable, it's a lot better for the American people.” Persuading people to take better care of themselves is certainly a commendable goal for an HHS Secretary. But the security and privacy risks inherent to wearables are also a veritable bonanza for data brokers. On the Dark Web in 2021, healthcare data records were worth $250 each, compared to $5.40 for a payment card record. Just imagine what they’ll be worth in four years’ time if the HHS plan comes to fruition. Meanwhile, companies are lining up to cash in on the wearables boom that the department is promoting. Companies that buy our data usually just want to target customers with ads and appeals. On a more sinister level, our health data derived from wearables – about as personal as information can be – will be sold by data brokers to about a dozen federal agencies, ranging from the FBI and the IRS to the Department of Homeland Security. Health data from wearables will surely become part of a single, federal database of Americans’ information. “Techno-utopianism” observes Natalia Mehlman Petrzela “assumes more sophisticated technology always yields a better future.” Without constructing the requisite privacy guardrails for the data new technologies generate, quantifying ourselves on such an extreme scale may invite unwanted scrutiny. Do we really want the FBI or the IRS to be able to warrantlessly access our deeply personal health issues? The wearables revolution, and the data it generates, is just another privacy violation that should prompt Congress to enforce the Fourth Amendment by forbidding the government from warrantlessly purchasing our most personal data. Comments are closed.
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